I have just begun my final semester as a college undergraduate student, and while my focus has been mostly on graduation preparation, career opportunities and possible re-location, one of my courses (Advanced Creative Non Fiction) is allowing me to keep partial focus on my passion for creative writing (thank you Professor Smith).

In my last few years of “higher” education, I have found that even though I am an English major, to creatively express myself has been challenging and in many cases, forbidden. You can’t write this, you can’t use that language, you can’t use that style. You can’t, you can’t, you can’t. I was always given the impression that writing is an art, an interpretation and that in classes entitled “The ART of Poetry”, “CREATIVE Writing” and “Personal EXPRESSION Through the Essay” meant that you were to know “the rules” and then have the option of throwing them out the window if they didn’t sit well in your pieces.

Luckily with this Advanced Creative Non Fiction course, I am FINALLY able to use language I deem appropriate for a certain piece, I am able to structure my piece however I feel comfortable and I am “encouraged to send my comfort zone on a vacation to the tropics.” Helping us writers is a book by Natalie Goldberg. My Professor chose this book and I praise her for doing so. Writing Down the Bones has undoubtedly landed a place in mind as one of the most useful, honest and influential books to assist writers in truly experiencing the gift of words. Whether one decides to read it from cover to cover or rather in random order (there are chapters), it gives the reader motivation, support and human advice when it comes to writing. Goldberg’s words lack the arrogance of other writing assistance and instead she uses humor and personal examples to which I was able to relate. She reassures writers that there is no “right” and “wrong” way to write (take that Professor Zucker, Pratt and Dunn).

I share this glorious discovery with you because whether we are blogging online, writing poetry or prose, or even confiding our thoughts in personal journals, I think Goldberg’s words get to the bones of writing. She strips away the skin, the muscle, the veins and the blood and shows us that writing begins at the base.

Bravo Goldberg, bravo.